Over on the BioWare blog, the Mass Effect developer has unveiled a new piece of single-player downloadable content for their recent trilogy-capping space epic.

Dubbed Leviathan, the DLC takes place during the Mass Effect 3 main campaign (well, it’d have to really, wouldn’t it?) and teases us with promises of discovering the origins and history of the galaxy-devouring Reapers.

From the blog:

“Something lurks in the dark corners of space, something powerful enough to kill a Reaper. Shepard must discover the most closely guarded secret in the galaxy before the Reapers silence it forever. Discover more about the origins of the Reapers as you race across the galaxy to find the Leviathan. Unravel the dark history of the Reaper Race before it is too late. Coming later this summer there is no war, only the harvest.

“Taking place during the events of Mass Effect 3, players will be thrust into the darkest corners of space where they will hunt a mysterious being rumored to be powerful enough to destroy a Reaper. As they race against time, they will begin to unravel the secret of the Leviathan. Explore uncharted systems and new areas on the Citadel, interact with brand new characters, unlock the AT-12 Raider shotgun and M-55 Argus Assault Rifle and discover more about the mysterious history of the Reapers. Available on PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Cost is $10 or 800 Microsoft points.”

It seems a little strange, in retrospect, to focus on something that’s has the potential to kill Reapers. As it’s an expansion that slots into the game, we already know that whatever this solution is won’t pan out. But the dark history of the Reapers? Now THAT I am interested in. I know the ending of the third game is (at best) divisive, but one of the things I enjoyed was the Battlestar Galactica (re-imagining)-esque “all of this has happened before, and all of it will happen again” theme with regards to the function of the Reapers, and I find the clues to their creation to be possibly the most interesting unanswered question posed by the ending.

I’ll also be happy to see new areas of the Citadel; one thing that (mildly) disappointed me about the Citadel across all three games is all the disparate areas of the station. I had hoped ME3 would mix in new areas with all the areas from the first two games. Perhaps that was too much to hope for, but it’s an enormous space, and new areas are also welcome, as are new systems to explore.

No date has been set for Leviathan‘s release beyond late summer, so I’ll report back when we know more details. But for now, I’m hoping this will be a substantial expansion, and I’m very much looking forward to diving back into the universe I’ve put close to 300 hours into over the last five years.